


sleepy boys aboard the polar express

by ihaveamigrane



Series: december prompts [1]
Category: Polar Express - All Media Types, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, Inspired by The Polar Express, Sibling Bonding, Twins Wilbur Soot & Technoblade, polar express au, yuh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:35:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28231029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ihaveamigrane/pseuds/ihaveamigrane
Summary: He was dreaming. Surely, he was dreaming. There was no other rational explanation as to why there was a giant fucking train outside his house.Tommy’s breath fogged against the window, obscuring his view. When he wiped the glass and saw that the train was still there, he shook his head in disbelief and ran to the other side of his room to put on some slippers and a robe.“This is insane, this is insane, this is insane," Tommy whispered frantically, practically sprinting through his house to get to the front door.or, Tommy rides the Polar Express and meets a few friends along the way.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit
Series: december prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2068353
Comments: 13
Kudos: 169
Collections: Dream Team Safespace Prompt Week 2020





	sleepy boys aboard the polar express

**Author's Note:**

> today's prompt was hot chocolate, so naturally i remembered that hot chocolate song from the polar express,,, it's a banger

He was dreaming. Surely, he was dreaming. There was no other rational explanation as to why there was a giant fucking  _ train  _ outside his house. 

Tommy’s breath fogged against the window, obscuring his view. When he wiped the glass and saw that the train was still there, he shook his head in disbelief and ran to the other side of his room to put on some slippers and a robe.

“This is insane, this is insane, this is  _insane_ ,"  Tommy whispered frantically, practically sprinting through his house to get to the front door. 

Finally reaching the door, he flung it open and was met with a fierce gust of cold wind. Tommy walked down the porch and into the snow-covered ground, looking at the sight before him with sheer awe. 

Steam rose from the locomotive’s chimney in great gusts, twirling and dissipating into the air. From the carriage’s windows, brilliant yellow light shone and cut through the night sky, spilling onto the snow like paint. 

The train was so tall that Tommy had to crane his neck to see the top of it, and even then he was barely able to see where the rooftop revealed the starry sky. 

After the thundering, metallic sounds of the vehicle coming to a halt died down (seriously, were  _ none  _ of his neighbours able to hear that?), Tommy tread through the deep snow toward the train, desperately wanting to see it up close. Once he reached it, he pressed a palm against the steel, the freezing contact confirming his suspicions. 

“Holy shit, that’s really a fucking train,” Tommy breathed.

Snowflakes fell around him from above, and everything was so quiet that Tommy was sure he could almost hear the snow making contact with the ground. 

_ “All aboard!”  _

Tommy jumped and swiveled around toward the disembodied voice. He squinted, trying to spot the person to whom the voice belonged to; it was a reasonably difficult attempt due to the steam from the train clouding the air. Then he spotted a tall man, presumably a conductor, standing at the open door of one of the train cars, raising a hand and waving. _“All aboard!”_

Warily, Tommy walked up to him. The conductor’s blonde hair was neat under his cap, and he took a large pocket watch from his vest, reading the time nervously. When he saw Tommy approach, he put the clock back in his pocket and smiled. “Well,” he said in a slightly Scottish accent, “are you coming?”

“Where?”

The conductor’s smile grew. “Why to the North Pole, of course,” he answered, and gestured grandly to the train. “This is the Polar Express!” 

_ What.  _ Tommy had no reason to go to the North Pole. At least, he hadn’t heard his parents talk about a trip there any time soon. “Uh,” Tommy began. “The North Pole?” 

“Hm.” The conductor thought for a moment and reached for a clipboard that was hanging on the wall of the train car. He flipped through a few pages and once he found what he was looking for, turned the clipboard around to show Tommy. “Is this you?” He asked. 

Somebody had written Tommy’s address neatly on official-looking paperwork. Against his better judgement, Tommy admitted, “yeah.” 

“Well then, it says here I've got the right person. If I were you,” the conductor said, offering his hand, “I would think about climbing on board.” 

Tommy shook his head, trying to regain some rationality. “Fuck no, I don’t even know who you are!”

The conductor laughed in surprise. “My, my! You’ve got quite the mouth, young man. Suit yourself.” He retreated into the train, bringing the all-knowing clipboard with him. The train whistle sounded, startling Tommy. He watched the train jerk forward, and it began to move away.

Regret began to pool deep in Tommy’s chest, thick like unappealing honey. He bit his lip as the vehicle began to gain speed, and like he was drawn to it by an invisible string, Tommy began to jog after it. “Fuck it,” he said, and jumped onto the steps of the car, gripping onto the handlebars for dear life. 

The wind blew sharply against his face, tousling his snow-ridden hair. Before he could overthink the decision he had just made, someone cleared their throat behind him. He turned around to see the conductor opening the car’s sliding door in a silent invitation. “I’m Phil, by the way,” the conductor said. “Figured you’d want to know since you’re going to be under my watch tonight.” 

“Right,” Tommy muttered, and he went inside the passenger carriage. “Thanks, Phil.” 

Phil laughed. “Oh, I see you at least have  _ some  _ manners.” 

Tommy looked for a seat, grumbling all the while. He decided that the back was a nice place to avoid social interaction, so he sat down and shuffled down the chair, as far away from the aisle as possible. 

All around him, children his age sang about the Polar Express, and Tommy wanted nothing more than to have them stop. It was quite annoying; they weren’t even good singers. 

A brunette kid suddenly popped up from the seat in front of him, peering at him with enthusiastic interest through his round glasses. Tommy grimaced. 

“Hullo,” the brunette said. 

“Hi,” Tommy replied, and hesitantly added, “I like your beanie.” 

The kid’s face lit up. “Thanks! It’s too cold out, so I brought it with me at the last minute. It’s neat though, right?” He spoke incredibly fast, and Tommy struggled to catch a word he was saying. “Anyway, I’m Wilbur. Nice to meet you! My brother is sitting next to me. Want to meet him? He’s kind of shy, though, but don’t mind him!” 

“I, uh, okay?” 

“Great,” Wilbur exclaimed, and his head disappeared behind the seat. Tommy waited for him to re-appear, and became alarmed when arguing began between Wilbur and whoever was with him. After what seemed like aeons, the angry whispers quieted down, and Wilbur appeared along with a grumpy-looking boy. “This is Techno!” 

Techno was strikingly similar in appearance to Wilbur. He had nearly the same haircut as his brother, but instead of his hair parting to the left, it parted to the right. His glasses were square, and he was wearing a pink sweater that looked far too big on him. 

“Wow, you guys kind of look alike.”

That was exactly the wrong thing to say. Techno’s furrowed eyebrows furrowed even further, and his cheeks heated - not in embarrassment, but sheer anger. In the start of a threat, he growled, “why you-”

“That’s because we’re twins!” Wilbur interrupted, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder. 

Although they were similar in appearance, they were exact opposites personality-wise. 

Tommy faked a chuckle. “Got it. Sorry.”

“It’s-”

“It’s no problem at all,” Wilbur said, interrupting Techno again.

“Ugh, if you’re not going to let me speak, at least let me get back to my book,” Techno complained. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Wilbur rolled his eyes and waved a dismissive hand, “you can go. You’re not engaged in the conversation anyway.” 

Techno stared at Wilbur with an expression that did not belong to someone as young as him. “Whatever,” he said and sat down, disappearing from Tommy’s line of sight. 

Sighing, Wilbur shook his head. “Sorry about him.”

“Well, you  _ did  _ warn me.” 

Wilbur laughed. The two fell silent for a moment before Tommy quietly asked, “are we really going to the North Pole?” 

“Mm-hm. Isn’t that wonderful?”

Luckily, Tommy was spared from having to reply. “Tickets! Tickets, please,” came Phil’s voice behind him, accompanied by the sound of a hole-puncher. “Tickets!”

Wilbur’s face dropped, and he frantically sat back down on his seat, presumably to avoid being caught standing on a place he wasn’t supposed to. 

Panic seized Tommy. He desperately searched his pockets, to no avail. He didn’t have a ticket; when was he supposed to get one? Phil walked up to Tommy and stopped. “Ticket, please.”

Tommy shook his head.

“Why don’t you try your pocket?”

“You don’t think I  _ tried  _ that, Ph-“ He stopped. When he felt around his pocket once more, he came in contact with something laminated. Tommy pulled the item out and gasped: it was a golden ticket. He held it up to his face to check if it was real and then handed it to Phil. 

Phil thanked him and proceeded to efficiently hole-punch it, with an almost inhuman speed. After about thirty seconds, the conductor returned the ticket to Tommy. “Thank you, sir,” Phil said and walked away.

He stared at the ticket in his hands, tracing the letters that were punched into it by the conductor. “B and E. What the fuck?” He wondered. 

“Oh, did you get a weird one too?” Wilbur asked. He was standing on the same spot where Phil had been just a few moments prior. Tommy nodded and held up his ticket so Wilbur could see it properly. “Huh. D’you mind if I sit here?” 

“Nah,” Tommy said.

“Cool,” Wilbur grinned and took a seat. “Here’s mine.” He showed Tommy his ticket, and they both looked at the  _ L  _ and  _ E  _ adorning it with wonder. “Techno’s is the same.” 

“How so?”

“It also has L and E on it, idiot,” came a drawling voice. To Tommy’s utter surprise, Techno had left his original seat. He sat himself down next to Tommy and Wilbur and showed them his ticket. “I dunno what it means.”

“That makes two of us,” Tommy said.

“Three,” Wilbur corrected. 

Tommy was  _ really _ glad he wasn’t the only one confused by all of this bullshit. 

_ “We are approaching our final pickup,”  _ Phil announced over the speakers, his voice enveloped in static. The train slowed down exponentially, and then they came to a complete stop. Tommy and Wilbur scrambled to observe through the windows, Techno scoffing at their actions and opening his book to read. 

“Aw!” Wilbur cooed. “Is that a bee plush he’s holding?” 

“Man, I think it is.” 

Phil was speaking to a boy wearing worn green pyjamas, clutching a bee plushie that looked to be larger than his head. Tommy could faintly hear Phil exclaiming about the Polar Express, and could see him holding out his hand to the boy. Surprisingly, the boy took it with zero reluctance and was hauled up by Phil into the train. 

Tommy was jerked forward due to the train starting back up again. The carriage’s sliding door opened, and there the boy was, shifting back and forth on his feet nervously. “Go on then,” Phil said encouragingly. The boy took a seat on the chair in front of where Tommy and his new friends were sitting. 

Satisfied, Phil strolled over to a PA system adorning the wall and detached the mic. Turning it on, he said, “your attention, please. Are there any Polar Express passengers in need of refreshment?"

All around them, children expressed their overwhelming agreement. 

Phil grinned. “I thought so.” He turned off the mic, returning it to its place, and opened the door to reveal eight men in butler uniforms, tap dancing down the aisle in unison. A butler turned the seat in front of Tommy around in a complete 180. Suddenly, he was facing the newest passenger as chaos unfolded all around him. 

“What the hell is this?” Techno questioned. 

“Where did-” Tommy said and nearly screamed when another butler took off his apron and placed it in the space in front of Tommy, creating a table out of nowhere. 

_ “Hot hot, oh, we got it!”  _

_ “Hot hot, hey, we got it!”  _

_ “Hot hot, say, we got it!”  _

_ “Hot chocolate!”  _

“They’re breaking out into  _ song?”  _ Tommy shouted.

Wilbur looked like he was having the time of his life, tapping his feet and humming along with a giddy smile. Techno frantically tried to shield his book from the dangers of hot liquid soaring through the air. Tommy kept shouting, his screams barely suppressed, and the boy with the bee plush was smiling in amusement. 

The whole, terrifying ordeal concluded in about a minute, and by then, the butlers had left the children to drink their hot chocolate in peace. 

Techno eyed his cup of hot chocolate warily. “That had to be  _ some  _ kind of health code violation.”

“Yeah,” Tommy said, wiping chocolate from the corner of his mouth, pretending he knew what the hell a health code violation was. 

“Tommy, don’t drink that,” Techno said. 

“You can’t tell me what to do!"

“It’s really good,” the boy across them mumbled. “You should try it.”

Wilbur set his ceramic cup down. “What’s your name?”

“Tubbo,” the boy said quietly, cheeks flushed due to the steam rising from the drink that he held close to his face. 

“You’re right, Tubbo,” Wilbur grinned. “This hot chocolate  _ is  _ really good. I don’t know why my brother dearest is fussing about it when he hasn’t even tried it for himself.” 

“I haven’t tried it because I have common sense.” 

“Just last week you were trying to fight off our neighbour’s dog with a cardboard sword.” 

“What the- don’t tell them that!” 

“Don’t worry, I think that was very chivalrous of you,” Tubbo said innocuously. 

Wilbur put his fingertips to his temples. “Dear god, don’t encourage him.” 

“You’re acting like  _ I  _ do the weird things, Wil, remember when  _ you-”  _ Techno began ranting, and Wilbur soon joined in, the two arguing in front of Tommy for the second time that night. 

Tommy and Tubbo were promptly excluded from the conversation. Tubbo returned to his hot chocolate, but instead of drinking it himself, he held the cup up to his bee.

“Are you feeding your bee hot chocolate?”

“Yes, he’s hungry.”

“That’s stupid.”

Tubbo’s face fell, and Tommy backtracked. “I’m joking. Sorry.”

“Oh.” 

“...why do you have a bee plush?”

“He’s my only friend.” 

“You don’t have any others at home?”

“No. No one really talks to me much.”

“Well I'm talking to you right now, aren’t I?”

That made Tubbo smile, and he sheepishly looked down at his stuffed companion. “Yes, you are.”

“What was that about friends?” Wilbur asked. He and Techno had finally calmed down, and they were eager to be let back into the conversation (at least, Wilbur was. Tommy still had no idea how Techno felt about anything). 

“Just that our pal Tubbo has a new friend, and that’s me.”

Wilbur scoffed light-heartedly. “Hey, I’m his friend too! Let’s make it official: Tubbo, can I be your friend?”

“I guess so,” Tubbo mumbled with a grin, face bright red.

Wilbur drummed his fingers against the table in triumph. “Awesome!” Then, he looked at his brother, expectantly.

Techno raised an eyebrow and turned to Tubbo, quirking his lips in a rare smile. “You’re actually decent, Tubbo. I wouldn’t mind if we were friends.”

“Is this because he defended your sword fighting, Techno?” Tommy asked, cheekily grinning. 

“Perhaps.”

“You’re corrupt, big man!” Tommy exclaimed, and his grin grew so much his cheeks hurt when Techno laughed. 

“Yeah, well. What’s it gonna be, Tubbo?” Techno asked. 

Instead of replying, Tubbo put his face in his hands. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I’m not used to this.”

“That’s okay,” Tommy said. “You’ve got all of tonight to get used to it. If we’re lucky and this Phil guy doesn’t end up killing us, we can hang out some more when we get home! Like real friends do.”

After a few moments of silence, Wilbur let out the most obnoxious squeal, and cooed, “aw, Tommy! That’s so sweet of you!” 

“Fuck off!” 

“You  _ care  _ about us!” 

“I never said  _ all  _ of you!”

“Ah, so you admit you care for at least  _ one  _ of us?”

“I- no! You’re so confusing!” 

“Come on, Tommy,” Techno urged with strange enthusiasm. “Just say you care about us.”

“You’re just trying to fuckin’ humiliate me!” 

Techno shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. Just say it.” 

Tommy sighed in defeat, knowing that his new companions wouldn’t let this go. “Fine. I kind of care about you guys.”

Wilbur cheered so loudly that Phil had to shush him from across the passenger car, which made Tubbo giggle. It was inevitable that they all broke into raucous laughter, and Tommy had never felt this happy in his life. 

That Christmas Eve, Tommy awaited for what the journey ahead held for him. Not with fear, as he initially felt, but with excitement. 

And later during the morning of Christmas, when Tommy’s parents couldn’t hear the ringing of the silver bell he had acquired from Santa himself, he didn’t care. The most important thing was that he made new friends; he was sure that they were real, even if the unbelievable journey somehow wasn’t. 

**Author's Note:**

> ty for reading! :]  
> [my tumblr](https://ihaveamigrane.tumblr.com/)


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